Meditation

A big part of what takes up our energy in the run of a day, is thinking about things. We even know that a lot of it is repetitive and unnecessary, yet no matter how we try, we don’t seem to be able to control it. In moments when we do catch ourselves totally caught up, we tend think there’s only two options–either get rid of the thoughts or escape from them.

It’s as if there weren’t a third option.

But there is a third option that, when understood, works immediately. In fact, the other two methods don’t really work funny enough–at least, not for very long anyway.

The way in and through, so to speak, is with the thoughts.

In this way we endeavour to allow, to welcome, and to simply pay less attention to thoughts, rather than trying to destroy them. In fact, we don’t need to destroy anything on the road to freedom.

There is a sweetness, a richness, that emanates from the present. It’s hard to see it when we are busy thinking about something else. But when we become interested, we begin to shift our interest from habits of worry and daydreaming, to the background of all experience, there is a truth there. This opportunity is always here for us and the source of true meditation.

So let’s continue to try to quit giving ourselves a hard time all the time and replace it with better understanding. Let’s throw out all the techniques and recipes we’ve accumulated that haven’t delivered what they seem to promise. Let’s find a better way. Life is in its essence is simple, peaceful, open, and waiting for us to join with it, right now as-it-is. You know, even if at first it doesn’t seem like it ever will get easier, it does. With each step we take in the right direction we discover it doesn’t have to be so hard.